Morning statistics – Tony Spell again – Boris Johnson – Margaret Cirko – A friend with the virus – Reminders of life in graduate school – The mask still needs work – Brett Crozier and Thomas Modly – Wildlife growing bolder – Virginia – Evening statistics
Today’s statistics as of 7:00 AM — # of cases worldwide: 1,280,046; # of deaths worldwide: 70,356; # of cases U.S.: 337,993; # of deaths U.S.: 9,653. In China the number of active cases is just over 2,000; this number at least is steadily diminishing – if only their statistics could be trusted! The incidence of the virus has greatly expanded in Germany, with over 100,000 cases and 1,500 deaths. In some European nations the curve appears to be flattening, but this trend is sporadic. In Denmark, for example, they are thinking of easing the stay-at-home policies on account of the diminishing number of new cases; whereas the U.K. has had a large increase of both cases and deaths. It is a puzzle to me why the mortality rate is so high there: over 10%. Their health care system is not in the state of disarray that prevails in Spain and their population does not have quite as much preponderance of the elderly.
Tony Spell continues to defy the stay-at-home order issued by Bel Edwards, governor of Louisiana, and to hold church services despite the ban against gatherings of ten people or more, and Governor Edwards continues to fail to take action against him.
Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister of the U.K., is hospitalized, ten days after being diagnosed with the virus. He is now in intensive care. His fiancée, Carrie Symonds, also has symptoms of the virus but has not required hospitalization.
Margaret Cirko, a woman in Luzerne County, PA, has charged with felony counts of terrorist threats, threats to use a “biological agent,” and criminal mischief. She intentionally coughed and spat on the produce of a grocery store, forcing it to throw away $35000 worth of produce. The charges sound extreme; but Ms. Cirko seems to be as low a creature as ever walked on two legs, so I am not inclined to quarrel with the authorities for slamming the book at her.
PF, president of the Capital Hiking Club, was affected by the virus this past weekend. He says, however, that it was a mild case and that he has recovered. The club’s hikes are to be postponed indefinitely. The visit to California to hike in Kings Canyon, initially set to June 6-14, will probably be canceled. In all probability the visit to my friends in New Jersey next month will be canceled as well. At this point only the trip to September to Colorado has not been affected, and even the plans for that remain uncertain.
The pattern of my life now reminds me to an extent of my life in Philadelphia when I was a graduate at the University of Pennsylvania. It was not a happy time in many ways, and yet there is a strange satisfaction in looking back on it. For several years I was dependent on my teaching stipend, which was $4000 per year, later raised to $5000. Of course these figures were for the late 1970s and early 1980s, so they were less scandalously low than they may appear. Still, it made for living on a very narrow margin. Excursions for grocery shopping had to be planned in advance and it was necessary to adhere to a very strict budget. Also, I rarely ate out, a practice which restricted social activities with my fellow-students. In order to save time, I would cook food in bulk and refrigerate or freeze it. I was not living in poverty in the strictest sense of the word; I would spend the summers in my parents’ house and I always had the knowledge that if I ever got hopelessly mired in debt, they would bail me out. Nonetheless an experience such as mine has this advantage if it is successfully sustained: the prospect of living again on a reduced scale does not hold any terrors for me. I like to think that I looked after myself rather well. I even managed to put by a little nest egg during this time. My mother was actually a bit disappointed that I never brought back any laundry of mine for her to wash whenever I visited home; she would have done it gladly, but I did not wish to be waited upon in that way in my early twenties, like a child at nurse.
I tried using a homemade mask today when I went out, but I still have to work on it; it practically stifled me when I put it on. And in this context it may be mentioned that President Trump refuses to wear a mask at all, despite the recommendations of the CDC. That is rather surprising, since his sense of self-preservation is in general tolerably keen. Is it simply that personal vanity prevents him from covering up his face in public? Surely he does not suppose that people’s gazes linger upon his features in contemplation of their beauty; that would be too much self-delusion, even for him.
Brett Crozier must be ruing the day that he ever joined the Navy. Not only has he been abused by the Navy Secretary and showered with contempt from the President on account of his pleas to preserve the lives of the men on the USS Theodore Roosevelt under his command, but he has now contracted the coronavirus as a result of serving on that ill-fated vessel. Elaine Luria, a member of the House of Representatives, is calling for the ouster of Thomas Modly, Trump’s sordid apparatchik who shunted Crozier off so unceremoniously. I am happy to say that she represents a district from Virginia. I hope she has the strength of purpose to pursue this objective and get other Congressional members to rally behind her.
The wildlife is growing bolder as a result of the reduction of human activity. While walking in suburban Fairfax today, I saw a fox cross a street and dash through the back yard of one of the houses.
Virginia has a relatively low number of cases. It is the 12th most populous state in the country, but 23rd on the list of number of positive cases. But there is a shortage of testing supplies in the state and in all probability only a fraction of people who are actually infected in Virginia have been tested.
Today’s statistics as of 9:00 PM — # of cases worldwide: 1,345,048; # of deaths worldwide: 74,679; # of cases U.S.: 367,507; # of deaths U.S.: 10,908. In 14 hours the U.S. incidence of cases has increased by about 30,000 and the number of deaths by 1,000.